Gondola shelving is commonly used in many stores to exhibit and merchandise product. This type of gondola display unit is well known to and widely described in the prior art. See, by way of illustration, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,096,074, 5,022,541, 5,014,862, 4,960,210, 4,919,282, 4,872,567, 4,785,946, 4,068,855, and 3,830,374. The disclosure of each of these patents is hereby incorporated by reference into this specification.
The prior art gondola canopy devices frequently require a substantial amount of labor to construct. They are frequently made of either wood or metal, and thus they are usually rather heavy.
When the components of the prior gondola canopy devices are made of metal, it is difficult and expensive to produce gondola canopies with complicated shapes.
Different problems are presented when the components of the prior gondola canopy devices are made of wood. Wood tends to warp because of moisture absorption, and thus gondola canopies made from wood do not retain their initial shape over time. Because of such warping, the seams joining such wood components often tend to open.
It is an object of this invention to produce a device adapted to produce a gondola canopy which will not undergo warping or change of shape over time.
It is another object of this invention to produce a device adapted to produce a gondola canopy which is relatively lightweight.
It is another object of this invention to produce a device adapted to produce a gondola canopy which will require substantially less time and labor to install than do prior art gondola canopies.
It is another object of this invention to produce a device adapted to produce a gondola canopy whose height and/or length and/or depth and/or configuration can be readily modified during construction.
It is another object of this invention to produce a device adapted to produce a gondola canopy which is attractive.
It is another object of this invention to produce a device adapted to produce a gondola canopy which is relatively strong.
It is another object of this invention to produce a device adapted to produce a gondola canopy which is capable of suspending merchandise from at least one of its faces.
It is another object of this invention to produce a device adapted to produce a gondola canopy can be made in lengths of up to and greater than 36 feet.
It is another object of this invention to produce a device adapted to produce gondola canopy which is capable of supporting one or more light fixtures and can readily be installed in an economical manner.
It is another object of this invention to produce a device adapted to produce a gondola canopy whose configuration can readily be changed in response to changing conditions.